This is an oft asked question on the forum. Here members can offer advise on how to post photos on TeaChat and size limits and recommendations.

There are several methods of posting photos.

They can be posted using various photo host sites such as photobucket, flickr, and numerous others. Each operates differently and has its own pros and cons which can be discussed here as well. Once you post a photo via your photo host account, there are things you must do and not do in order to keep your photo displayed on the forum.

Also photos can be posted as attachments via the upload attachment feature of the forum. The photo is then maintained by TeaChat. The attachment folder for the forum has to be increased periodically.

Most members prefer to use a photo host site. This option puts more responsibility on the posting member, but after weighing all the pros and cons from a moderator's perspective, I also prefer the photo host option.

and you are taken to this page, which has your image plus several prepared links you can copy and paste. TeaChat and most forums only work with the second one, the long string of characters:

What I circled up top was the large size, which is the wrong size for TeaChat--it's better to click 'medium' and to use the link from that page, because it will be the right size (no more than 500 pixels in either dimension). Select the entire link, copy to your clipboard.

Open a reply in TeaChat, click the Img button on top of the post box, and in between the two pairs of 'Img' in brackets, paste your link.

Thanks debunix. Speaking of sizes, the max size should not be larger than 640 pixels wide. Larger sizes will be blocked by the forum. In actuality, 640 is generally too large.

You can check on a picture size by right clicking on the full size photo (a window will pop up) > left click on properties > another window will open which will include information about the photo including the pixel dimensions.

If you choose to upload your photos in high resolution, you will need to make a second photo in a smaller size for posting see How to Edit below. It seems that 500 pixels seems to work very well for all different browsers viewing the pictures here on TeaChat.

How to Upload your Picture to Your Post:Below your photo in the Photobucket album you will see "Direct Link" and "Image Code" boxes. The image code box will give you the precoded link to post directly into your post here. Right click, copy and paste it into your post.

How to Resize:When you are looking at your pictures in the album, click on the top leftabove the pic where it says edit. Choose: Resize. When you get to the editing screen make sure you have the box checked that says "Keep Proportions". Enter 500 in the new size box, then hit apply. Then under the picture you can either "Save a copy" or "Replace original".

If you do not have a photo hosting program you can upload directly to TeaChat by uploading from your computer to TeaChat.

Open a new post. Towards the bottom you will see an "Upload attachment" tab. Click that, then click the browse button to locate the picture file on your computer. Next a FILE UPLOAD box will pop-up. ( Locate the file and single click on it, then click "Open" on the FILE UPLOADER box.)

Now click the "Add the file" button (right next to the Browse button.)

You can then click "Preview" to see how things look.

If the picture is too big you will get this notice: "The file is too big, maximum allowed size is 256 KiB", In that case you will need to resize your picture in order to upload it. There are many programs out there to help you resize your photo.

In Picasa go to your online ALBUM where your picture is located then click on the photo you want. At this point it is still in a “Thumbnail” or preview mode. You need to click again to get the full size picture.

On the right of the picture you will see “Link to this Photo” Below that select your size. Choose: Medium 400PXNext check "Image only (no link)".

Right click and copy the address in the "Embed image" box and paste it here. Now right click and highlight your link and click on the little image button above (IMG) in the TC post box. This will add the needed photo brackets. (Or you can click the "IMG" button on the post first, then center your curser between the brackets and paste your image location.)

Wow, this is amazing! I spent most of this afternoon in my Picasa 3.6 program and I was determined to make it work for me, but continued to have real problems. Then I saw this sub-forum was added, printed off the directions for all the different photo hosts and started with Flickr.

THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU. Flickr is by far the best for me. Debunix - your instruction was seamless. It's very easy to navigate that site. That's what I will be using from now on. It's much easier for me using that host. I hope others will benefit from this too! Thanks again y'all...now I can focus on taking a decent picture to upload

In Picasa go to the ALBUM where you picture is located then click on the photo you want. At this point it is still in a “Thumbnail” or preview mode. You need to click again to get the full size picture.

Although I decided to use Flickr, I'm still miffed that I can't figure out the Picasa. I'm stubborn and want to get it. Do I go view my online album or just start from my Picasa on my desktop?

Yep, that works! I figured out I also have to wait for a short period of time before the images are actually able to be shared...is that right? I noticed that I'd try to share them immediately after uploading and when I went to the online album, they were there but I was not able to share them. I waited several minutes, went back, and I was given the option of linking the photo along with all the other stuff below that for sizing and embedding. If that is correct - that it takes some time to complete the upload before one can share - I guess that's an important thing to know. I just assumed I was doing something wrong since the options didn't immediately (or very shortly thereafter) show up. Does this sound right or am I suffering from gray matter ischemia?

I noticed with resizing and photobucket, sometimes it takes several minutes for the resize to carry over to TC, thus some people who were downsizing to meet the requirements were getting image too large notifications as their photos had not downsized completely ...

But I don't have a clue about the other host sites.

So, if anyone is using PB, and you downsize to under 640 wide from say 1000, you may have to wait several minutes before posting the downsized photo on TC.